A Blackburn man has set up a new business maintaining grave sites.

Uzair Qureshi regularly heads to his local cemetery in Blackburn to tend to his graves of loved ones.

He said: “I would visit the cemetery all the time and meet other people taking care of the graves of their loved ones.

“Many times, I was approached by visitors, who are both Muslim and non-Muslim, asking to give a one-off clean to the graves of their relatives.

“A lot of the time people are not able to do it themselves due to old age, time and the weather. I would just help out for free.

“This led to more and more people wanting me to help which has led me to now taking it on full time."

Graves tend to be maintained by volunteers and family members who will spend most weekends at the cemetery.

Uzair has now established his own company, Crown Grave Care, and has already signed up more than 40 customers.

He said: “I started off just doing the weekends but as things picked up, I am now working during the week too.

“For a normal session I spend about an hour removing the weeds, soil levelling and cleaning the headstones. Other times, if more work needs to be done this can take several hours.”

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Uzair said he would get asked by other visitors to clean the graves of their relatives within the Muslim section of Pleasington Cemetery

Uzair charges £29.99 for a monthly maintenance service or £49.99 for every six weeks. He also has offers one-off and seasonal care options.

Uzair, 29, said he is keen to assist anyone and tends to graves in all sections of Pleasington Cemetery and other places of rest around east and central Lancashire.

“Due to the weather and work graves can be forgotten about. Others may not know how to properly look after the graves and that’s where I can step in and help. 

He added: “The majority of my work takes place at Pleasington Cemetery in Blackburn but I have customers in places Accrington and Preston too."